Tourniquet



July 1, 1958 G. w. MARSDEN 2,841,149

' TOURNIQUET Filed June 17, 1957 ,4 ZNVENTOR.

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United States Patent TOURNIQUET George W. Marsden, Upper Darby, Pa.

Application June 17, 1957, Serial No. 666,062

2 Claims. (Cl. 128-327) My invention relates to a tourniquet of the general type disclosed in Plesch Patent No. 1,857,567, of May 10, 1932, and is a continuation-in-part of my application Serial No. 569,019, filed March 2, 1956, entitled Tourniquet.

A tourniquet of this type includes a flexible elongated tube adapted to be wound around the head, the arm, or the leg, or other portions of the body Where pressure is to be applied, and means for inflating said tube so as to apply the requisite amount of pressure. The tourniquet referred to also includes a buckle which serves to hold the tourniquet in its pressure applying position.

Because a tourniquet may be applied to a relatively large portion of the body, such as the upper thigh, it is necessarily made of suificient length to encompass the thigh. When such a tourniquet is applied to the wrist or to the ankle or around the head, a substantial portion of the tube will not be in use and will extend beyond the buckle. Obviously, if the entire tube is inflated and rendered rigid, this portion of the tube will extend tangentially of the circumference of the tourniquet and will be unsightly and in the way.

One object of the invention is to produce a tourniquet long enough to encompass the largest portion of the body on which it is to be used and in which only that portion of the tube which actually encompasses the body is inflated and in which the portion thereof which extends beyond the buckle, will be uninfiated so that it will hang limp instead of being rigid and protruding.

Another object of this invention is to produce an improved tourniquet of the character described in which the buckle which holds the tourniquet in its encircling or clamping position also serves to limit the inflation of the tube to that portion thereof, which encircles the head, the leg or the arm so that no air will reach the portion of the tourniquet beyond the buckle.

In many cases, a tourniquet is used not only for applying pressure over the encircled area, but also for applying a greater degree of pressure on a specific spot. For example, if a blood capillary is hemorrhaging, it may be more necessary to apply pressure at that location than over the remaining area. In fact, it may well be that only a minimum pressure need be exerted on the area surrounding the hemorrhaging capillary so as to prevent blood to flow away from the surrounding area while stopping the flow of blood into the area.

It is therefore a further object of the invention to produce a tourniquet capable of exerting different degrees of pressure to adjacent areas of the human body.

These objects are obtained by my invention as set forth in the following specification and in the accompanying drawing in which:

Fig. 1 is a top plan view of a tourniquet embodying my invention.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged view looking in the direction of line 22 on Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a sectional view looking in the direction of line 3-3 on Fig. 2.

2,841,149 Patented July 1, 1958 2 Fig. 4 is a sectional view looking in the direction of line 4-4 on Fig. 3.

The tourniquet illustrated includes an elongated tube formed of an inner wall 8 and an outer wall 10 which coa-ct to form an air space 11. Walls 8 and 10 may be made of rubber or of any other natural or synthetic, flex-' ible, expandable and air-tight material. One end 12 of the tube has secured to it one end of a strap 14, the other end 16 of which is clamped by means of a toothed excentric clamp 18 which is pivoted to the ears 20, which may be an extension or, may be carried by the inner Wall 22 of the buckle which holds the tourniquet in its pressure applying position as shown in Fig. l. A conventional buckle serves merely to hold the tourniquet in position, but does not serve to prevent inflation, and consequent erection, of portion 26 of the tube which, after the tourniquet has been applied, projects beyond the buckle.

According to my invention I use a buckle which, in addition to clamping the tourniquet in position, also limits inflation to the part of the tube which is in actual use. This buckle includes opposite ears 28 in which is journalled shaft 30 which carries an excentric 32 which is operated by a cam plate 34. As shown in solid lines in Fig. 3, the tourniquet is clamped between excentric 32 and cam plate 34, but, if cam plate 34 is moved to the broken line position shown at 35 in Fig. 3, the tourniquet will be released and can be pulled in either direction, through the buckle. Excentric 32 is co-extensive with the width of the tourniquet so that, when the tourniquet is clamped between the excentric and the bottom plate 22 of the buckle, walls 8 and 10 of the tourniquet will be tightly clamped together so that the air introduced into the portion of the tube between points A and 13 cannot flow into portion 26 which is beyond the buckle as shown in Fig. 1. By this arrangement, portion A-B of the tube can be inflated to the desired extent so as to apply the desired degree of pressure and the unused portion 26 of the tube will hang limp instead of being rigidly erected. Air is introduced into the tube at a point in end 12 thereof by means of pump 36 which is connected in air flow relation with the interior of the tube by means of a conduit 38 which threadedly engages a nipple 40 which is secured to the outer wall it of the tube, as at 42 or in any conventional manner. Conduit 38 is controlled by a valve 44 which, when moved to one position permits air to enter the tube and which, when moved to a second position permits air to flow out of the tube. The operation of this valve is the same as that used in blood pressure measuring apparatus and in automobile tire valves and is therefore not detailed.

The threaded connection between conduit 38 and nipple 40 permits ready removal of the pump from the tourniquet when the latter is not in use.

In order to apply pressure to a depressed portion of the body, or to apply a higher degree of pressure, such, for example, as at the site of a hemorrhage, or at the site of a bruise, or at the site of a fracture, the tourniquet is provided with an enlarged portion 13 which has a larger area and which, when the tourniquet is inflated, will bulge inwardly beyond the inner surface of the remaining por tion of the tourniquet. See Fig. 3. This enlarged portion can be located at the buckle end 12 of the tourniquet,

as shown in the drawings, or it can be spaced inwardly a reasonable distance from the buckle end. The enlarged portion 13 is preferably placed near the buckle end of the tourniquet so as to be available even if the tourniquet is used over a wrist or other small part.

To use the tourniquet described, it is first wrapped around the leg, arm, or other organ, with cam plate 34 in the broken line position of Fig. 3. End portion 26 of the tube is next inserted beneath the excentric 32 and the tourniquet is pulled tight until the desired pressure is obtained. Cam P ate 34 is now moved to the solid line position of Fig 3, to clamp the walls of the tube together and valve 44 is turned to a position to permit flow of air into the tube upon operation of pump 36 to inflate portion A -B, o,f thev tube to the desired extent. When itbecomes necessary to reduce the pressure, or to deflate thev tube, valve 44is moved to its other position in which it permits air to escapefromthe tube. By this arrangement, portion, 26 of the tube remains soft and limp instead of being rigid and protruding.

Sinceportion 13 is larger, it covers a larger area than the rest of the tourniquet, and because it bulges inwardly, asshown in Fig. 3, it exerts greater pressure than the rest of the tourniquet. Thus the enlarged portion can be placed, over a fracture to keep the broken bones straight while the pressure exerted by the restof the tourniquet does not stop the circulation through the surrounding area. Where it is desired to stop the circulation, the tourniquet is pulled tighter and the air pressure in it is increased.

What I claim is:

l. A tourniquet comprising a flexible, expandible, elongated tube, means for introducing air under pressure into said tube, a valve operable in one position thereof to permit the entry of compressed air into said tube and in another position thereof to permit escape of air from said tube, and a combined buckle and valve carried by one end of said tube and adapted to. receive, and to clamp, the other end of said tube to retain the tourniquet in the position to which it is adjusted around the portion of the body to which pressure is to be applied, and to prevent the entry of compressed air into the end portion of the tube which extends beyond said buckles and is not in use, a portion of said tube being larger than the remaining portion thereof, so to cover a larger area per unit length, and so as to bulge inwardly to a greater extent than the remaining portion of said tube whereby greater pressure is exerted by said larger portion per square inch than the pressure exerted by the remaining portion of said tube.

2. The structure recited in claim 1 in which said larger portion is located near the end of said tube which carries said buckle.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

